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Grounded

I haven't been doing any flying lately and I probably won't for quite a while. It's not a medical problem ... instead it's all about money. Perhaps in another month or two we'll be in a position to do more flying. But for now I'm grounded. In the meantime I'm paying attention to the fight over FAA funding. There's no way to tell how this is going to turn out. But I'm worried that by next year flying will be out of my price range.

Landing at McKinney (KTKI)

G and I made a local flight around the Dallas area today. This time we took the video camera and here's a short video of the landing at Collin County Regional Airport (KTKI).

We were flying a Cessna 152.

checkride passed

I passed the flight portion of my checkride this morning. It was a beautiful morning for flying, there's high pressure in the area so practically no wind, only high cirrus clouds, and the obligitory haze.

Norm, the DPE, had me plan a flight from Addison (KADS) to Guthrie, OK (KGOK). We left Addison and flew over the first two checkpoints making my planned time within half a minute. Along the way we determined that the GPS was broken and so we turned it off. After the second checkpoint Norm had me tune in a VOR and identify our location, then we started following a radial while he asked me questions about VORs. At that point Norm asked me if he could look at my chart. I handed it over and he folded it up and stuck it up between the glareshield and the window. "Oh I'm a bad passenger, I opened the window and your only chart just flew out. Good thing we tuned in the Bonham VOR."

LOL

Once we got to the VOR and the flag flipped over Norm asked me if I've ever been to the Bonham Municipal Airport (F00). I hadn't so he suggested we go there and do a short field landing over a 50' "tree". He asked me a couple of times whether I thought the traffic pattern was right or left. I finally got the hint and dug out my AFD and confirmed that it was a left pattern. We then entered the pattern and I performed a short field landing. We got down and stopped within 1000' which made Norm very happy (he said so). =;-)

We taxied back and then he had me do a short field takeoff. Next stop was Sherman Municipal (SWI) where I did a soft field landing and takeoff. Next Norm had me put on the hood and he led me on a tour of North Texas with me flying on instruments alone. We did quite a few heading changes and climbs and descents (with and without turns) until he tuned in another VOR and asked me to identify our position relative to it and then fly along a radial toward the VOR.

Once he was satisfied with my performance it was time for unusual attitudes. The first one was a real stomach churner and we ended up in a climbing turn. I leveled the wings, added some power and got us straight and level. The next one was much more subtle. I could hardly tell what Norm was doing but when he turned over the controls were were in a diving turn. So this time I leveled the wings and pulled the power until we were flying straight and level again.

Norm asked me to descend to 2500' and pointed in a direction just off our nose ... "we're over Celina and that was is Prosper. Take us that way and we'll go back to Addison." So I did. I called up the Addison ATIS and got the info, then contacted regional approach (who was really busy today) to get cleared back to Addison. We were passed off to Addison Tower pretty quickly and then we hit a glitch. I had the tower and ground frequencies tuned into radio one and though the display showed I was transmitting I never heard a response. We both fiddled with the radio a bit before tuning in the tower on radio two. Now they are coming in loud and clear. There wasn't too much traffic so hopefully we didn't step on anyone's toes. We were cleared for a straight in approach to runway 15.

This time Norm wanted a normal crosswind landing, and we actually did have a slight crosswind to deal. I managed to get on the glide path correctly this time (I'm usually too high on straight in approaches) though on short final I was too low and had aggressively add some power to get back on the path. Then I managed to do a half-decent crosswind landing with only a little bit of bounce. While turning off the runway and onto taxiway foxtrot Norm sticks out his hand and says "congratulations pilot". I wish you could have seen the grin on my face!

I knew the hard part was over when I finished the oral exam but this flight really was not that hard at all. Not to say that Norm let me off easy, it's more that I have the confidence to fly the way I've been taught and I know that I should pass because I've been taught well. This flight was a test, and I was nervous, but Norm completely put me at ease and let me perform at my own pace. In the end this checkride was just a darn pleasurable flight.

A couple of things Norm said really pleased me. First was that he doesn't always get to take examinees into Bonham and Sherman airports because they have narrow 4000' runways. Plus, Sherman's runway is on a slope ... and from our perspective today went downhill. Most of the examinees need more runway than that. He mentioned that at Bonham it might as well have been a 2000' runway because that's all I would have needed.

Then he also complimented me on my rudder skills. I've always thought I had a bit of a clubfoot when it came to the rudder pedals so I was surprised by this. But Norm said I made excellent use of the pedals and that sometimes he couldn't even feel me giving the plane more rudder during turns and takeoffs. That really made me feel good!

So now what? I've got a Skyhawk at Monarch reserved for most of next Sunday. The wife and I are going to Llano, TX, I think, to get some of that excellent Cooper's BBQ. But today I'm also contacting the North Texas Flying Club (based at KTKI) to sign up. So hopefully next Saturday I'll be doing a checkout with them.

This flight: 1.7 hours (simulated instruments @ 0.4 hours)
Landings: 3
Total : 65.7 hours (started training in December 2004)

Checkride Oral Exam Completed

My checkride was scheduled for today. I completed the oral examination but the weather was just too unstable to do the flight. So that has been postponed until 10 September.

Solo Practice Flight #3

So my instructor, Y, told me to schedule 3 hours for our next flight so we could do a mock checkride. I did that and later he revised the schedule to book the plane for just 2 hours.

I was a little surprised but figured he had commitments and could only spare two hours. I showed up today and was dispatched the aircraft. By the time I finished the preflight Y was still not there so I called his cell phone. I got voicemail.

I tied up the airplane, locked it and went back inside. The guy behind the counter hadn't heard from Y either so he tried giving him a call. And this time Y answered. Turns out, he meant to cancel the lesson altogether. And he thought he'd called me. So we decided to make the best of it and I would do another solo flight. Fine by me!

The weather, according to the briefer, was marginally unstable. There were thunderstorms popping up south of Dallas and Fort Worth but they were generally falling apart before they got too far north. The clouds were roughly at 5500' and above so we agreed that I could go but I should monitor Addison's ATIS in case things started to go bad.

The takeoff went fine and soon I was following Preston Road north out of Dallas. And it was bumpy! When I reached the practice area and was out from under the Class Bravo airspace I climbed to 3500' thinking I'd escape some of the thermal activity. No!! It seemed worse. Holding my heading wasn't hard, but holding altitude was really tough. I would often find myself in a 500-feet-per-minute climb even though the Skyhawk's pitch hadn't changed.

I started off with some steep turns. Um, let's just say that they were hard ... really hard to get right. I did four sets and by the end I was able to keep my altitude within the limits, but just barely.

After that I decided to descend and try some ground reference maneuvers. I picked out a good spot to do turns-around-a-point. I managed to get two good turns in before giving up. I had no problem picking my four points and maneuvering the Skyhawk over them but again the altitude holding was a problem.

Finally, I'd had enough so I climbed back up to 2500' and turned toward Addison. I was given a course to fly so that I would parallel the runway centerline. This would allow an incoming Challenger Business Jet overtake me and land. I was cleared to follow him. But then I was asked to keep my speed up since there was a King Air turbo-prop coming in behind me. So I kept up my cruise speed almost all the way to the runway and then pulled the throttle to idle in order to slow down, descend and land.

It went great until I actually flared for landing. A gust pushed my left wing up and I got turned a little sideways and didnt' land aligned with the runway. Poor Skyhawk! The abuse those planes have to put up with!

This flight: 1.2 hours
Landings: 1
Total: 58.9 hours

Solo Practice Flight #2

I finished my tasks that I started with my last solo flight last week. This morning was perfect flying weather, though it was a little hazy.

KADS 251147Z 35004KT 13SM SKC 23/19 A3008

Which translates to: winds from the north at 4 knots (5 mph), clear skies, temperature 73-degrees Fahrenheit, dewpoint 66-degrees Fahrenheit, and the barometric pressure was 30.08 inches of mercury.

Sounds a little warm for 7am doesn't it? Well, this is Texas!

During my preflight my instructor, Y, came out to tell me that there was an FAA inspector doing ramp checks. I assured him that I had all my paperwork in my bag and that I wasn't planning on landing anywhere but Addison (only airwork for today's flight!). He seemed happy with that so I continued with my preflight. I finished up and pulled the Skyhawk out to the line and hopped in. I never did see the inspector ... which is too bad, because I've been curious about what a ramp check is like.

Anyway, I started up and finished my checklist, then called up ground control and got clearance to taxi to runway 33.

By the time I got out there the winds were coming right down the runway so the takeoff was easy. I elected to do a normal takeoff instead of a short or soft. Y told me that I should maximize my lessons by always practicing anything I could, but I wanted to concentrate on airwork today. Besides, maybe my normal takeoffs need practice!? lol

The air was smooth as silk today! I climbed out to 2000' and headed north. Once under the last ring of the Class Bravo airspace I climbed to 3000' and continued until I was over the eastern shore of Lake Ray Roberts. After doing some clearing turns I started off with some steep turns. First to the left, then to the right. The first set were ok, within the PTS standards. The next set I had to abort. I let the nose drop too much and I picked up a lot of speed and lost too much altitude. I climbed back to 3000' and did some more clearing turns. The third set of steep turns went much much better. I easily held the nose on the horizon and kept my speed, altitude and headings within the limits.

Next came slow flight. I slowed to about 48 kias and held my altitude at 3000'. I made two 90-degree turns, like clearing turns and kept the speed and altitude within limits. Feeling pretty confident, and considering I had the flaps out I went straight into a power-off stall. The first one went ok, so I tried another. Uh oh ... like when I flew with Y the last time I pushed the nose down and ended up in a dive. I quickly pulled the power to idle and recovered. I climbed back to 3000' and tried again. Same result.

So I climbed to 3000' and tried it again, ahhh much better this time. Just let the yoke in a little and let the nose drop, add full power and we're flying again!

Next up was a power-on stall. This one went ok except I never really got into a full stall. Y makes it look so easy. He just puts the airplane into a 20-degree nose-up attitude and holds it until the speed bleeds off and it stalls. I do that and it just keeps climbing!

Eventually I got it on the edge of a stall, which was enough for me and so I recovered. I found that you can easily alternate the two types of stalls. Power-off with the flaps down and descending ... recover, retract the flaps, climb back to 3000' then slow down till 55 kias, add full power and climb until you stall ... recover, start a descent, extend the flaps ... do a power-off stall ... rinse and repeat ... lol

I think I ended up doing about five repetitions like this.

Next I needed to relax a little so I flew across the practice area and back just to relax. Once I returned to the Ray Roberts shore line I descended to 1600' and picked out a road to do s-turns along. That was fun!! The wind was blowing pretty strongly at that altitude so it was a challenge to get them right. After about 20 s-turns I decided I'd had enough and climbed back to 2500' to return to Addison.

At Addison I was cleared to land while still on the downwind and I ended up not paying enough attention to my pattern. I hardly did a base leg and nearly did a circle to land kind of approach. The controller was probably thinking ... "this guy's obviously a student".

But the actual touchdown was on the centerline and main wheels first so I was happy!

Next up is a mock checkride with Y.

This flight: 1.7 hours
Landings: 1
Total: 57.7 hours